automated transfer vehicle → EUROPE’S SPACE FREIGHTER 1 European Space Agency From the beginnings of the ‘space age’, Europe has The Member States are: 18 states of the EU been actively involved in spaceflight. Today it (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, launches satellites for Earth observation, navigation, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, telecommunications and astronomy, sends probes to Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the far reaches of the Solar System, and cooperates in Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) the human exploration of space. plus Norway and Switzerland. Space is a key asset for Europe, providing essential Eight other EU states have Cooperation Agreements with information needed by decision-makers to respond to ESA: Estonia, Slovenia, Hungary, Cyprus, Latvia, global challenges. Space provides indispensable Lithuania, Malta and the Slovak Republic. Bulgaria is technologies and services, and increases our negotiating a Cooperation Agreement. Canada takes understanding of our planet and the Universe. Since part in some programmes under a Cooperation 1975, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been Agreement. shaping the development of this space capability. By pooling the resources of 20 Member States, ESA undertakes programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country, developing the launchers, spacecraft and ground facilities needed to keep Europe at the forefront of global space activities. Cover: Automated Transfer Vehicle seen from the International Space Station Station Space the International seen Vehicle from Transfer Automated Cover: 2ESA/NASA Published by the Strategic Planning and Outreach Office of the ESA Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Operations. ESTEC, PO Box 299 2200 AG Noordwijk The Netherlands email: [email protected] ESA and the ESA logo are trademarks of the European Space Agency. Permission to reproduce or distribute material identified as copyright of a third party must be obtained from the copyright owner concerned. 4 THE SPACECRAFT www.esa.int Servicing the International Space Station A look at the spacecraft What makes ATV different? 12 StORY OF SUCCESS @esa ATV overview @esaoperations Best ATV moments Getting better all the time Team spirit Made in Europe youtube.com/ESA A blogging phenomenon 20 ATV GEORGES LEMAÎTRE Key data Destination Space Station blogs.esa.int/atv Georges Lemaître: a Belgian genius and the beginning of time Critical mission phases Loaded for the last round Swan song facebook.com/EuropeanSpaceAgency 30 THE FUTURE ATV heritage Leaving Earth orbit Orion Copyright © 2014 European Space Agency → THE SPACECRAFT ESA—K. Oldenburg 4 ↑ Composite image of ATV approaching the International Space Station The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) has the greatest cargo capacity and power of all vehicles that visit the International Space Station. It is the most reliable and complex spacecraft ever built in Europe, combining fully automatic rendezvous capabilities with human safety requirements. ATV contributes to keep the Station and its permanent crew of six working at full capacity. The spacecraft plays a vital role in Station logistics: it serves as cargo carrier, ‘space tug’ and storage facility. Each spacecraft can deliver up to seven tonnes of cargo. ATV provides astronauts with food, water, atmospheric gases and research equipment, but it also helps adjust the Space Station’s orbit. The 20-tonne vehicle is able to navigate on its own and dock automatically with the Station with a precision better than six centimetres. Once attached, the engines of the European vessel are used to raise the Station to a higher orbit, counteracting atmospheric drag that slowly causes the Station to lose altitude. ATV can even push the Station out of the way of space debris. It also provides attitude control when other spacecraft are approaching the Station. ATV remains attached as a pressurised module of the Station for up to six months. The spacecraft ends its mission by undocking from the Station filled with a few tonnes of waste. ATV’s last journey is a controlled but destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. 5 Servicing the International Space Station ATV is a service vehicle. With its large capacity it delivers critical supplies to the 450-tonne International Space Station. The spacecraft is Europe’s in kind contribution towards its share of the operational costs of the orbital outpost. The birth of the ATV programme Under ESA’s leadership, European industry conducted concept and system studies for an automated supply spacecraft from 1987. In the early 1990s, ESA started joint studies with NASA and the Russians to define ATV missions to the International Space Station. Europe’s formal approval for the ATV development programme came in 1995. At the beginning, only about half a dozen people were part of the production team. With ATV, ESA gained the right to visit the Space Station with its own space transportation systems. Independent access to the orbital outpost is an important political and operational aspect, as well as a financial asset in contributing to Space Station operation costs. Multitasking ATV Space freighter Space tug Storage Cargo Boosts • Extra crew module • Waste disposal For astronauts: • Adjust orbit • Food • Avoid space • Water debris • Breathable gas • Attitude • Clothing control For Space Station: • Propellant • Research equipment • Spare parts ↑ The International Space Station orbits at an altitude 6 of about 400 km above the Earth Did you know? • The Station is larger than a conventional five-bedroom house, with two toilets, fitness facilities and a 360-degree bay window called Cupola. • In clear skies around sunset or sunrise, the International Space Station can be seen from most places on Earth with the naked eye. • Unmanned vehicles are used to haul supplies to the Space Station: the European ATV, Russia’s Progress vehicles, Japan’s HTV Transfer Vehicle and the commercial US spacecraft Dragon and Cygnus. • The Station’s construction in space began in 1998. It has been occupied permanently since 2000. No other space station has been inhabited for longer. • More than 130 spaceflights and 170 spacewalks have been conducted to build and maintain the Station. 7 NASA A look at the spacecraft GPS antennas Eight payload racks to store equipment Startracker Docking system ATV sections Micrometeoroid and orbital debris protection system 1 Integrated Cargo Carrier Carries the resupply payload to the Station. It can deliver almost seven tonnes of dry and fluid cargo. Propellant tanks 2 Avionics Module Holds ATV’s ‘brain’ with critical components such as computers, gyroscopes, navigation and control systems, as well as power distribution and communications equipment. Four main engine nozzles 3 Propulsion Module Reboosts and manoeuvres the Station to avoid potential collisions with space debris. Its thrusters not only guide the spacecraft to the Station, but also propel the spacecraft away from the Station at the end of its mission. ESA—I. Baroncini 8 Rocketed into space • The Ariane 5 rocket is 52 m tall, equal to a 15-storey building. • When Ariane 5 lifts off the launch pad, it weighs over 760 tonnes, equal to around 500 cars. • Ariane 5 takes ATV into a 260 km circular orbit, Water and gas tanks 20 times higher than a passenger aircraft’s cruising altitude. 28 attitude control and Cosmic automation braking thrusters • A startracker combined with a GPS receiver is the modern equivalent of centuries-old navigation techniques based on timekeeping and observing the stars. • ATV docks with the Space Station by hitting a target 60 cm wide with a precision of 6 cm while circling Earth at a speed of 28 000 km/h at an altitude of around 400 km. • ATV operates with 4800 W generated by its four solar wings, more than the electricity Solar arrays used by household water-heaters. • Its software has 450 000 lines of code, the most complex software ever developed by ESA. Avionics equipment Lift the Station • The International Space Station loses altitude by 50–100 m each day. • The second ATV of the series, Johannes Kepler, holds the record for the largest space boost since the Apollo missions to the Moon: it raised the Space Station’s orbit by 40 km in one go. Four main engine nozzles • Propulsion combo: ATV has 32 thrusters consisting of four main engines with 28 attitude control and braking thrusters. • The propulsion system also comprises 68 electric valves, 84 pressure sensors and nearly 200 temperature sensors and heaters. 9 Space deliveries SpaceX Operator 6.1 Length, in metres 2010 First launch 10.2 Maximum liftoff weight, t 3.3 Payload, t DRAGON In May 2012, SpaceX made history when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle to be attached to the International Space Station. Of all the unmanned vehicles currently ESA visiting the Space Station Dragon is the only ferry that can return to Earth with 9.8 equipment and scientific samples. 2008 20.6 ATV – A record breaker • Heaviest spacecraft ever launched 7.7 by ESA on an Ariane rocket. • Can carry in total about three times the payload of Russian cargo ships, and about 25% more than the Japanese HTV. • Most powerful reboost capability of any spacecraft visiting the Station. Orbital Sciences Corp. 3.7 CYGNUS Cygnus is the fifth 2014 unmanned spacecraft in the history of spaceflight to 6 resupply the Station, and the second one developed by a private company 2 - 2.7 (Orbital Sciences). Roscosmos 7.2 1978 7.3 2.4 PROGRESS What makes ATV different? Progress is the longest-serving unmanned There are at least two things that make this cargo spacecraft – it has been carrying fuel and multipurpose spacecraft unique: its flexibility and other supplies to all space stations since 1978. precision. The Progress-M version is currently flying three to four times yearly to the Space Station The Station’s needs change constantly, and there carrying over two tonnes of supplies each.